Tourism Fiji is the latest partner in the business of recycling offering support to the Pacific Recycling Foundation in garnering attention from industry partners to encourage sustainable waste management practices.
Tourism Fiji chief executive officer Brent Hill said it was an important part of their marketing campaign for environmentally friendly tourists.
“If you look at Fiji and especially at our latest campaign where happiness comes naturally, we actually market Fiji as this beautiful location that we invite the world to come and see,” he said.
“If we don’t have a beautiful location with waste which we know is a problem worldwide and of course it is a problem in Fiji, if we let that get unchecked then we don’t actually have something to market.
“So from our perspective it is one of our key strategic priorities as part of our 2022-2024 Corporate Plan. “So it is a really key initiative.”
He said from Tourism Fiji’s perspective, their involvement with the Pacific Recycling Foundation was to help provide a platform for tourism operators to start developing more definite paths for recycling.
“What we would like to see today is more tourism and ultimately all of our tourism businesses to start recycling programs and to work with Pacific Recycling Foundation.
“Because if we can start from a tourism perspective and we can ensure that more of our waste is being recycled then we can continue keep our beautiful country beautiful.”
Pacific Recycling Foundation founder Amitesh Deo said their partnership with Tourism Fiji would culminate with the celebration of Global Recycling Day on March 18.
“PRF was specifically formed to raise awareness on recycling and to provide structured support to hundreds of individuals or groups involved in informal waste picking in Fiji and the Pacific region in particular women or members of the LGBTQI+ waste pickers involved in the collection of recyclables,” he said.
“One of the most important days for us Recycling Advocates is Global Recycling Day.
“The day allows us to bring recycling to the forefront of discussions.
“It also allows us to create awareness of the work done by recycling companies as well as those involved in waste informal waste picking.
“While we talk to different stakeholders all the time about the different areas of recycling, research, and upcycling we are involved with, Global Recycling Day allows us to engage with all different stakeholders collectively and in solidarity with the recycling movement.”
He said this year’s Global Recycling Day was important to the organisation for various reasons including the launch of two major national campaigns which would be officially launched later this month.
Mr Deo added that this year’s celebrations also signified a collaborative effort of commitment, ethics and shared visions towards sustainability.
